Zimbabwe's Most Modern Village (Harare, Zimbabwe in 2023)

Sam Levy Village. This diverse Shopping Centre and pedestrian Mall consisting of supermarkets, line shops, large and small stores, banks and specialised retail outlets is located in Harare’s northern suburbs. Known as ‘The Village’, the original concept plan included a pedestrian only Mall, with peripheral external car parking. Over its more than 30 year life span, it has developed to include restaurants, gyms and cinemas with changing purchaser demands and tenancy requirement. Stone/Beattie were the original ‘Village’ designers and architects and have provided full services for architectural design; working drawings and schedules; interior design services; co-ordination of civils, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering services; construction contract management for the originally constructed Mall and to it’s numerous tenants and specialist shops for over 30 years. Text extracted from: https://www.stonebeattiestudio.com/re... Samuel Rahamin Levy (1929–2012) was a Zimbabwean businessman and property developer best known for his construction of the Sam Levy's Village shopping mall in Borrowdale, a suburb of Harare, in 1990. A self-made billionaire, at the time of his death he was reputed to be one of the richest people in Zimbabwe. Levy was born to a Jewish family in Que Que (now Kwekwe) on 9 October 1929, and educated at Prince Edward School in Salisbury (as Harare was called until 1982). He founded and chaired Macey's Stores Limited, a large supermarket group, in the 1960s. In September 1973 he purchased Duly's car showroom on Angwa Street, Salisbury, for US$1.5 million. He converted the site into a department store and later a shopping centre, the Ximex Mall, which he sold to the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) in the late 1990s. He successfully stood in the Salisbury council elections in 1975, and served as a councillor for Ward 8, comprising the city's southern district of Waterfalls, until 1979. Sam Levy's Village was designed in such a way that it has since been dubbed a "Little England". It includes buildings resembling English cottages and a clock tower similar to Big Ben, and originally issued its security guards with uniforms similar to those of British "bobbies". In 2012 Sam Levy was posthumously honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Victor Night Awards and Empretec recognised him as one of the Most Influential Entrepreneurs in post-independent Zimbabwe. “He loved passionately and deeply, and was very protective. No one could touch anyone he loved, and he made everybody know it. He reminded everyone he met, respect and honour your parents and don’t fight with your brothers and sisters,” read his eulogy. “Family is family” and “blood is thicker than water”, he was quoted as saying. Sam Levy was also involved in various charities. His friend, Kiki Divaris, of the Miss Zimbabwe Trust said of his death: “He was a generous individual who always supported me in my endeavours including the Child Survival Trust. He was a hard working, innovative and successful man who did a lot for Zimbabwe.” More on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Levy